April 29, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: April 29, 2019, shed condition anniversary.
Five years ago today: April 29,2015, 22 hours in Deland.
Nine years ago today: April 29,2011, 150 guitar players.
Random years ago today: April 29, 2017, barely recognizable white shed.

           The talk on the street is most people have had it. If a month of voluntary isolation has barely made any difference, let the virus take its course. And don’t try handing them the line that the lockdown is working because things could be worse. The governors who are behind the edicts are talking extensions of the quarantine until June. By which time economically imposed starvation could be a fact of daily life. The original end date of April 30 may be extended for clubs, bars, sports events, theaters, and anything I like to do.

           Look at them peaches. The thing is, I don’t know if they are ready. They are pretty small. Do they grow bigger? I’m going to pick the ripest-looking one (shown here) and see what. I’m more interested in getting the first raised planter finished because I each vegetables every day, not peaches. I have the remaining pieces measured and cut but discovered yet another problem not mentioned on-line where it should be. Untreated lumber warps easily. We know it will rot, but nobody said it would warp within a couple of months. Treated lumber negates the primary purpose of growing your own, it contains chemicals you are trying to avoid. So why not paint it? Same reason, chemicals again.

           The morning in Winter Haven saw me spend another $100 on supplies, but soon I’ll have a sample of the green drainpipe to test with. The forecast is rain but now I have a partially sheltered place to work. Only to find out my usual suppliers don’t stock ground contact lumber. Once again, I run into staff who do not know the difference. Ordinary pressure treated lumber should more properly be called “exterior” lumber. It will not last ten years. You must opt for ground contact lumber, which some people including myself can perceive a slight dull pink color.
           This is due to extra chemical retention. The Forest Product Laboratory says such lumber can last 40 years buried. That’s probably a lofty claim, or maybe works on the shop bench. Either way, I only need 11 pieces and if I live that long, I won’t give a hoot about any type of flooring material. I located some (advertised) in the south end, I’ll probably get over there tomorrow.

           I stopped for groceries and got hit up for spare change. It’s tough out there, but young healthy males should ask for work, not for money. I’ve been down and out, but these days there are all manner of sources of free money, though you have to talk the talk and often listen to some religion. It was different in my time, without saying it was better. Yes, I’ve been reduced to begging in my late teens, but I doubt anyone who knows my story would say it wasn’t necessary. As soon as I got on my feet, which I did on my own, I never went back to it. I had to make every sacrifice that was necessary, including a dashed career in computers. It came to within maybe a $50 per month allowance from home would have got me on the ground floor with Apple or Microsoft, but that is another story.
           In the end, I never got a meaningful break. Yes, strangers have helped me many times. But I am compelled to say that while I am so thankful for it, all of them put together never come close to how much I’ve helped others. Nope, no even close. Yes, I begged, but if I’d had a guitar or could even recite poetry, I would not have panhandled—and I certainly did not do it for a living, or as is likely these days, to supplement a welfare check. I had trusted others and wound up at 17 years old with nothing. And I mean nothing, including any job skills or practical experience.
           Here’s where I point out that with one or two exceptions, every solo musician I know in Florida is on some kind of pogie. (TMOR pogie is a generic term for government sponsored welfare. Could be food stamps, disability, unemployment, etc.) Since then, because of music, I’ve never gone hungry, but remember, I did not play bass professionally until I was in my 30s. You can’t stand on a street corner and play bass. But is that because nobody has invented a lithium powered bass with built in mini-woofers?
That reminds me, I have not seen old Mack in a year. He’s the guy who could team up with me any time, but his union pension is so fat he has no incentive to put in the time—which would be minimal as we already have the same song lists. Anyway, I have two places lined up to play, tips only, but I need them for stage mileage.

Picture of the day.
Somewhere in Texas.
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           I finally dug up and transplanted that weird tree that sprouted from the neighbor’s. The tree he said was just four years old and already 15 feet high. Then it died. It grows pecan-shaped buds. I wondered why he planted the tree in such a hard place to trim in his yard. Turns out it was one of those free trees you get in the mail, so he planted it back there and forgot about it. I simply uprooted it and put it where the leaves, if it blooms, will block more of the view from the street.

           We definitely have a female red-headed woodpecker in the yard. She likes the same sunflower seeds as the cardinals, who are so well-fed they only come around every other day. The pair of titmice (titmouses?) drop inside the feeding ball, but the lady woodpecker sticks her orange-red tongue through the mesh and grabs a seed faster than you can see. Here the tits.

           The lack of traffic made my trip to town and back so soon I had time to drive south to the Fubar to see how they are fairing. Hmmm, I hear talk that the SBA (Small Business Administration) is making “loans” available to help firms hit by the lockdown. Isn’t that something, the US government shutting down your business, then offering to save you by putting you in debt to themselves. The staff are all out of work, but since they live in various houses and trailers on the property, keep busy by things like completely shampooing all the carpets. Which is nice, because all the furniture is stacked up and I got to measure the pieces I need for my kitchen nook.
           There are two smaller “half-booths” that are ideal. Think of these as the end-pieces of back-to-back benches that have to end somewhere. The doubles I can’t use and the other singles are six feet long. Way in the back I found two four-footers. There is no word on when the highway department is going to pay up for the right of way. I chatted with the staff for around ten minutes. There is no reason the pub could not open if people didn’t dance and stayed six feet apart. I mean, it’s not like every other business is complying 100%. You pass far more people in the Wal*mart aisles than you ever would in most pubs. Yes but the servers blah-blah, but I just it’s the same for cashiers.

           Yes, I am aware that when a 500 ton chunk of gold or iridium falls from orbit into the Great Western, a few dozen tons of it will ablate. But the leftovers will still be measured in the dhundreds of tons, not ounces. We could always coat it with some surplus gunk we have no use for. Liberals, Democrats, and progressives come to mind.

ADDENDUM
           Forex trading, the end of the first month. Well, take everything with a grain of salt. We know a number of things that are not as they appear, but all are overlookable. I’ll tell you my situation and you can fill in the blanks that are meaningful to you. Foremost and anybody following along already knows this—the software is unstable. It is typical OOPs, rushed into place and years later they are still tweaking it to get it to work right, which will never happen. Too many coders spoil the soup.

           The software is touted to produce a 3% return per week. This is the demo program where you get $3,000 monopoly dollars to test and learn. Most people would not suspect a thing, but I see items that must necessarily differ between the demo and the real world. The obvious fudge is that 3% is actually 2.433%. It displays a slightly higher upside but not enough to cause alarm. Still. My calculations, however, are based on nothing but your basic accounting formula. BB +TI –TO = EB. In English, your beginning balance plus all your transfers-in minus your transfers-out equals your ending balance. Here is the income statement for the first month, you can run your own calculations from this. Following the picture are my numbers. Bear in mind this is adjusted Gross Income or Operating Capital before taxes and all other expenses.

           I run parallel spreadsheets with every calculation based on these hard facts. So, where do we stand at the end of trading on today’s date? Many mistakes were made and I place the blame for that on the lack of accounting and trading experience of the coders. Many fields had misleading titles and often behaved the opposite of what was needed. Sadly, wading through all these quirks is the dominant feature of their training and not how to adapt things to your risk level, which is what you really want.
           The beginning balance was $3,000. The ending balance was $3,332.51 for a gross income of $332.51. For the month (we’ll call it), the total is therefore 10.629% which works out to a weekly average of 2.126%. Not bad at all, but we have not paid the $189 monthly membership fee. Thus, $332.51 - $189.00 = $143.51. That means an adjusted gross income of 4.783%, still somewhat too good to be true for just one month—but the risk is there. There has been no hype (we would not stand for it) and the time is approaching to sink in some real money. My suggestion is $3,000 to we can match it precisely to what the demo feature performs.
           But the minimum has to cover that membership fee. The best ideal start is to cover that fee plus a reasonable return for the very high risk involved. We’ve known for some time that requirement is $4,725. There simply has to be a better Forex trading model out there than this friggen MLM crap. To learn the ropes, I will stick with them, but I’m most definitely on the outlook. I like to attend meetings anonymously. I don’t like someone hovering around trying to recruit me—as if he is the Shaolin Master and I am the grasshopper. If he’s so smart, how come at his age his income is still dependent on other people? This is similar to the reason I don’t go to church. They will not let you alone.

Last Laugh